Chapter 74 Moonstone Survived

Chapter 74 Moonstone Survived
Kael

The first thing I notice after the realm closes is the silence. Not true silence because the courtyard is still full of movement. Wolves. Lycans. Healers. Radios crackling somewhere near the palace steps. Orders being shouted across the compound. The wounded crying out while witches move between bodies with glowing hands and bloodstained clothes. But the screaming pressure inside my head finally stops. The anchor line disappears beneath my feet so suddenly my knees almost buckle. Marcus catches himself against Adrian beside me while Mara physically drops to the cracked concrete with both hands braced beneath her.

“Holy shit,” Marcus breathes hoarsely. “I think my spine just filed for divorce.”

Normally I would answer him. Normally Elowyn would laugh. Instead my entire focus stays locked on the woman in my arms. Her body feels frighteningly limp against my chest.

“Elowyn.” My voice comes out rougher than I intend. “Baby.”

Her eyes remain closed and panic claws straight through me again even though I know she’s breathing. I can feel it. Barely. Shallow and exhausted against my chest.

“She burned through almost everything she had,” Seren says somewhere to my left. Her own voice sounds strained from exhaustion. “She needs rest.”

“She’s not waking up.”

“She will.”

I barely hear Seren speak. Blood still streaks down Elowyn’s nose. Silver burns faintly beneath her skin in slow flickers before fading again. Like her magic cannot fully decide whether it’s finished yet.
My hands tighten around her instinctively.

Around us, the courtyard finally begins settling into the aftermath of war. Moonstone wolves continue spreading out across the training grounds, but now there’s no frantic desperation behind it. No fear of being trapped between worlds again. Wolves shift back into human form beside shattered courtyard walls while Elaris soldiers stare openly at them. At the silver glowing lines still faintly visible beneath their skin. At the proof that Moonstone survived. Some stare like they’re witnessing ghosts. Others look terrified. A few look ashamed.

The fracture in the sky is gone now. Only faint silver light remains overhead where the realm had split the night open minutes ago. The storm clouds above the palace move slowly again instead of twisting unnaturally around lunar magic. The war isn’t fully over yet. Fighting still echoes somewhere beyond the eastern compound walls where remaining Ashwood forces are being hunted down, but the battle here ended the second Elowyn closed the realm. I look toward the shattered western wall where Callum stands beside Morvena’s body. Neither he nor Elara speak. They just stand there together beneath the ruined stone and bloodstained moonlight while Moonstone wolves move around them. Elara eventually rests one hand against Callum’s arm. The sight hits something deep in my chest because after eighteen years trapped inside another realm, after losing their daughter and their kingdom and nearly each other, they still found their way back together. And now they have her back too.

“Elowyn,” I whisper as I lower my head slightly toward her again. Still nothing. Fear sharpens viciously inside me. “She needs a medic now!”
“We have wounded everywhere,” another voice says sharply nearby. “The queen herself is currently helping stabilize three lycans near the eastern…”

“I don’t care if the Moon Goddess herself is bleeding out on the fucking courtyard stones,” I snarl.

Several nearby soldiers physically freeze, but I don’t regret it. Adrian grabs my shoulder before the situation escalates further.

“She’s scared,” he says quietly. The young medic standing several feet away stiffens immediately. Barely older than twenty. Covered in blood that probably isn’t all hers. Guilt flashes through me instantly and I exhale hard through my nose before looking back down at Elowyn.

“Sorry,” I mutter roughly.

The medic nods once before kneeling beside us carefully. Her hands hover over Elowyn’s arms before faint gold light flickers across her palms.

“She’s exhausted beyond anything I’ve ever seen,” the medic says softly after a few seconds. “Her magic is still trying to stabilize.”

“She collapsed.”

“She held open a bridge between realms during a war.” The medic looks up at me carefully. “Most people would’ve died.”

That does not help me feel better. Movement near the western wall catches my attention again. Callum finally turns away from Morvena’s body. The Alpha of Moonstone looks terrifying even standing still. Blood covers his arms and chest. Some of it his. Most of it not. Silver still flickers faintly beneath his skin from the realm. His eyes lock onto Elowyn instantly and every protective instinct in him sharpens visibly. He crosses the courtyard without hesitation. Moonstone wolves move aside for him automatically. So do Elaris soldiers. Nobody stops him. Nobody would be stupid enough to try. Elara follows close behind him, exhaustion etched across her face now that the battle is over. For the first time tonight she looks tired enough to collapse herself. Callum stops directly in front of me. His eyes move over Elowyn carefully.
The unconscious daughter he lost as a baby and got back for only a handful of hours before she nearly tore herself apart saving everyone. Something raw flashes across his expression.

“What did the medic say?” he asks.

“That she’s exhausted.”

Callum nods once like he expected that answer. Elara crouches beside us slowly before brushing blood-damp hair away from Elowyn’s forehead with trembling fingers. The gentleness of it nearly destroys me.

“My sweet girl,” she whispers. Elowyn shifts faintly in my arms at the sound of her mother’s voice. Relief punches through me so hard my vision nearly blurs.

“There you are,” I breathe immediately and her lashes flutter weakly. Everything around us seems to stop.
Moonstone. Elaris. The war. All of it fades into the background for one suspended second while Elowyn slowly opens her eyes. The silver glow is gone now. Only exhaustion remains. Her gaze moves unfocused at first before finally landing on me.

“You’re crying,” she mumbles weakly and a startled laugh tears out of me before I can stop it.

“I thought you died.”

“Mm.” Her eyes drift half shut again. “That seems dramatic.”

Marcus makes a strangled sound somewhere behind me.

“Oh thank fuck,” he mutters. “She’s still annoying.”

Mara immediately smacks him.

“Ow!”

“You scared us half to death,” she snaps, wiping at her own face afterward.

Elowyn blinks slowly before her attention shifts again. Toward Callum and Elara. Everything changes in her expression instantly. Not power. Not Scarlet Luna. Just daughter. Emotion hits her so hard I physically feel her tense against me.

“You’re still here,” she whispers and Elara’s face crumples immediately.

“Oh, sweetheart.”

She pulls Elowyn carefully against her despite all the blood and exhaustion between us. Callum kneels beside them both a second later and suddenly the three of them are together for the first time in eighteen years beneath the shattered remains of the training courtyard. Nobody nearby speaks. Even Marcus shuts up. Callum presses his forehead briefly against Elowyn’s hair before closing his eyes.

“You brought us home,” he says quietly. The words wreck half the people standing nearby. Elowyn starts crying first then Elara. Then I realize Mara is openly sobbing against Adrian’s shoulder while pretending she absolutely is not. Marcus points at her immediately.

“You’re crying.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You literally are.”

“Shut up, Marcus.”

A laugh escapes Adrian quietly despite the exhaustion written all over his face. For the first time all night, the courtyard almost feels human again then screaming erupts near the eastern compound entrance. Every soldier in the courtyard tenses instantly. Theron’s voice cuts across the grounds seconds later.

“Stand down!”

I slide Elowyn completely into her mother’s arms before looking toward the eastern line. A group of Elaris soldiers drag three captured Ashwood wolves through the broken gates while several more bodies lie motionless behind them. One of the prisoners spits blood onto the courtyard stones before snarling toward Moonstone.

“They should have trapped you with them, you traitorous bastard.”

The atmosphere changes instantly. Moonstone wolves begin growling around the courtyard. Low and dangerous. Callum rises slowly to his feet beside me and the Ashwood wolf notices him immediately. Fear flashes across his face. Good.

“You lost,” Theron says coldly, but the prisoner laughs anyway.

“You think this ends because the realm closed?” His eyes move across Moonstone gathered throughout the courtyard. “The kingdom will never accept them.” 

Murmurs ripple uneasily through portions of the Elaris soldiers nearby. I hate that he’s not entirely wrong. Elowyn notices it too. I feel it in the way she stiffens slightly against me. Theron notices as well. The king turns slowly toward the watching soldiers. Toward the lycans. Toward the wolves who spent years believing Moonstone betrayed the kingdom. His voice cuts across the courtyard hard and clear.

“They bled for Elaris tonight,” he shouts and silence falls immediately. Theron points toward Elowyn without hesitation. “The Scarlet Luna held the realm open while this kingdom fought for survival.” His gaze sweeps across the wounded littering the courtyard. “Moonstone returned and defended this kingdom when they had every reason to let it burn.”  Nobody speaks because everyone here watched it happen. Theron’s expression hardens further. “Anyone who questions where Moonstone stands after tonight may answer directly to their king.”

The tension doesn’t disappear completely, but it shifts and that matters. The captured Ashwood wolf sneers anyway.

“You’ll regret this.”

Callum steps forward before Theron can answer and the entire courtyard stills.

“You misunderstand something,” Callum says calmly and the Ashwood wolf’s bravado cracks immediately. Callum’s voice never rises and that somehow makes him more terrifying. “You still think Moonstone wants permission to exist.” The wolf goes pale as Callum steps closer. “We survived eighteen years inside a realm designed to break us.” Silver flickers faintly beneath his skin again. “You do not get to threaten my family from chains.”

The Ashwood wolf physically recoils and Theron glances toward Callum briefly afterward. Not offended, but impressed.

“Take them,” Theron orders.

The prisoners are dragged away seconds later and silence settles over the courtyard again afterward. Different this time. Heavier and final. Elowyn’s head drops against my shoulder again as exhaustion pulls visibly at her.

“We need to get her inside,” Elara says softly and I nod immediately.

“No argument there.”

I rise carefully with Elowyn in my arms and the second I stand fully, the entire courtyard shifts. People notice. Moonstone wolves. Elaris soldiers. Witches. Everyone watches as I carry her across the shattered training grounds. Not because she collapsed, but because they know now. Every person here understands exactly who she is. The girl who opened the realm. The daughter of Moonstone. The Crown Prince’s mate. The Scarlet Luna. And as I carry her toward the palace beneath the fractured remains of the night sky, I realize something else too. Nothing in Elaris will ever be the same again.

Movement begins spreading through the courtyard again. Not battle this time. Recovery. Healers move quickly between the wounded while surviving Ashwood bodies are dragged toward the far side of the compound. Moonstone wolves stand together in clusters near the shattered western wall speaking quietly among themselves while Elaris soldiers keep glancing toward them like they still cannot fully process what they’re seeing. A pack returned from the dead. I catch pieces of conversation as I carry Elowyn toward the palace steps.

“They really survived in there?”

“Did you see the silver in their eyes?”

“My brother fought beside one near the eastern line.”

“They saved Captain Varos.”

“Elowyn held that fracture open herself.”

The last sentence follows us farther than the others because it is not whispered fearfully, but awestruck. Elowyn hears it too. I feel the slight shift in her body where she rests against my chest.

“You need to stop listening to people,” I murmur quietly. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” she mumbles against my shoulder.

“I know.”

Her fingers curl weakly into the front of my shirt anyway like she’s reassuring herself I’m still here. The palace stairs come into view through the smoke and wreckage ahead of us. Several sections of the outer wall are destroyed entirely now. One of the massive stone lion statues near the entrance has collapsed onto its side beneath scorch marks and claw gouges. Guards move bodies away from the doorway while witches reinforce damaged sections of stone with glowing magic.

Elaris won tonight, but the kingdom paid for it. My mom emerges from the palace entrance as we approach. Blood stains the sleeves of her dark coat and exhaustion shadows her face, but her posture remains steady. Queenly. Controlled. Her eyes land on Elowyn instantly. Relief flickers there so openly it catches me off guard.

“She’s awake,” she breathes.

“Barely,” Marcus mutters somewhere behind us.

The queen ignores him completely before stepping closer.
“You saved this kingdom tonight,” she says softly to Elowyn.

Elowyn’s eyes open halfway at the words.

“So did everyone else,” she whispers weakly.

My mom studies her for a long moment and something complicated moves across the queen’s face then. Respect. Grief. Maybe even guilt for what this kingdom allowed to happen to Moonstone all those years ago.

“Even exhausted,” she says quietly, “you sound more merciful than most rulers I’ve known.”

Elowyn looks like she wants to answer, but exhaustion pulls at her too hard. Her eyes drift shut again before she can speak and my mom’s expression softens immediately.

“There are rooms prepared inside,” she says, looking at me now. “For all of Moonstone.”

Something about those words settles heavily in the air around us. For all of Moonstone. Not prisoners. Not guests. Not invaders. A place inside the palace. Callum notices it too. I see it in the way his attention sharpens slightly behind us while Elara goes completely still for half a second. The queen notices their reactions.

“This kingdom owes your people more than rooms,” she says carefully. “But it is a start.”

Nobody answers immediately because after eighteen years of betrayal, nobody knows what comes after this yet, but when I look down at Elowyn asleep against my chest while Moonstone wolves walk freely through the palace gates behind us for the first time in nearly two decades, I realize something important. A future actually exists for this kingdom now.